


Ruling Alone

by WonderWarrior



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Falling In Love, Feminism, Fighting, Love/Hate, Warrior - Freeform, before marriage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-28 06:24:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13265574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderWarrior/pseuds/WonderWarrior
Summary: Young Artemisia was on her way to become the first Queen, the first female warrior and the first female ruler of Ariana, when, by the unexpected turn of events, she was forced to marry, so her husband would rule her country. Trying to defy the norms and the prejudice of older generations, she tries to prove her worthiness and show that she indeed can rule alone. That becomes even more difficult when she finds out the man she is about to marry is Loki... Of Asgard... Yes, the one burdened with the glorious purpose!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic, plus English is not my native language, so don't judge too harshly ^_^ Constructive criticism is welcome! Otherwise, I hope you'll enjoy it :)

'Listen, I'm not fond of this idea either, but I guess we just have to deal with this! Not that you have any other choice!' - I glared at Loki ready to contradict everything he says in return.

'Good, - he suddenly smiled with venom, - just wanted to make sure we are on the same page! So you won't back or, you know, run away!'

With these words he glared back, then stood up and abruptly and 'oh so unexpectedly' left.

That was literally the first conversation I have ever had with my future husband, the future ruler of MY country.

Ever since I was 12, I was dreaming that someday in the future, I will become the Queen, so I could rule Ariana and help my people. These dreams, however, did not involve a husband who would actually do it, while I just enjoy only the title. On my eighteenth birthday my parents gladly announced to me and to the people, that on my twentieth birthday I will officially become the Queen. The people, however, did not accept this as happily as I did, and the thought of a twenty-year-old Queen bothered them greatly. Even though they respected and listened to me, gladly accepting me as a wise and clever person capable to rule, they could not fathom the idea of a tiny girl having strength and battle skills to protect the realm or lead it into war if necessary. With this fear in mind the Old and the Wise Council (amongst which were surprisingly a lot of women) of the realm brought an ultimatum to the royal family that only when I marry a suitable royalty, I would be able to be crowned and called a Queen. As far as it goes, this will only be a title, while the actual ruler would be my dear husband.

As it turns out, this will be Loki of Asgard, Young Prince and the son of Odin, who has a neighbouring realm next to Ariana not overly friendly, yet not declaring any wars. So when they found out that Ariana was in need of a ruler and Princess Artemisia (i.e. me) was in ‘desperate’ need of a husband, King Odin happily offered his youngest son eager to fulfil the wants of a princeling to have power and also to get rid of him given how much death and destruction Loki caused in Midgard.

At first I was completely and positively sure that in not a single universe exists where this would happen, and my parents would agree to this horrible idea. Turns out this universe existed. And I was living in it… And today was our first official meeting, just several weeks before the marriage. And the first words I uttered were actually not very pleasant for him, I guess. But given with how much contempt he greeted me, not even dignifying me with a bow, seeing me just as a tool to get what he wanted in his entire miserable life! After the official reception welcoming our royal family, our parents decided that it would be a good idea to let the two ‘lovebirds’ chat. It wasn’t!

Immensely tired after the trip from Ariana, I decided to retire to my allocated quarters and finally get some sleep. Although I did not particularly like Asgard and its inhabitants, I had to pay tribute to their architecture. It was simply amazing! Spacious golden halls with a lot of columns and ornaments, heavenly beautiful yet practical bedrooms, dining halls and even courtyards had their own specific furnishings. But my favourite part was definitely the Rainbow Bridge (partly because I heard Loki had fallen from it into abyss).

Finally, when I found my room, which wasn’t easy given my relationship with directions, I opened the door and, not looking around, landed quickly on the bed falling asleep.

When I woke up, it was already getting dark, which was even better for this castle, given how much more solemn and rich it had become under cloud of night. After getting much desired sleep, I finally got the strength of looking around my quarters. And a silent scream of rage was elicited from my mouth by what I saw. Fuming I closed my eyes and opened it again, hoping it was still a horrible dream, but no, here was my room all in golden and emerald-green furnishings even down to small things such as my night robes, the colours of Loki! With a groan, I tried to pull my hair out, falling again on the bed, which was also made from gold-covered wood with emerald green bed linen. Seeing this, I jumped out of the bed as if scalded. And then I heard a soft yet malicious chuckle. Quickly spinning around I saw Loki sprawled on my lounge, his legs thrown over the armchair.

‘You should have seen your face! How do you like my engagement present, my dear fiancée?’

‘You creep! You watched me sleep!’

‘Don’t be so full of yourself, Armis, I was just notified when you woke up. I believe we have not finished our conversation.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘As if someone could tell you this seconds after I woke up! Wait… What did you just call me?! I’m Princess Artemisia of Ariana, daughter of Stelios to you! Do not dare to call me otherwise!’

With these words, I approached the door, opened it, gesturing him to leave. ‘I believe, you were pretty clear what’s finished and what’s not when you left last time, and I suggest you do the same now!’ It took all my strength to compose myself and not to show how furious I was and amuse him even more.

Lazily strolling towards the door, Loki smirked once again casually saying: ‘As you wish, Princess Artemisia, future wife of King Loki, ruler of Ariana.’

HOW DARE HE?! Releasing my full rage, I slapped the door with force noticing, not without satisfaction, how it hit him in the back causing him to stumble.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry for not posting so long, but as I came back at uni from holidays, I did not have much time to write a new chapter :( I will try to post more frequently from now on ^_^

Now the only choice left for me was revenge! I hated this arrogant son of the bachelor with my whole heart! Plus, I did not have anything to do in the evening, given that King Odin and Queen Frigga decided to throw a ball on the second day of our arrival, thus letting us to rest from the long trip.

Making sure Loki as far away from my chambers as possible, I sneaked out of my room and entered the adjacent one – my parents’ room. There lied all the stuff I brought with me from Ariana including the robes of my colours, which were blood red and bright blue. Smiling happily, I put those on and exited the room, at least now I feel like my old self: an independent protector of my realm and not someone’s toy!

Given that unfortunately I didn’t know any magic, my plan was much harder to execute, not impossible, though. First, I found some green student from Queen Frigga’s classes of magic and talked her up. The task was not proven easy as this little girl was immensely scared of this horrible green and gold monster. With a little bit of encouragement, which involved sweet talking as well as threats, the girl now worshipped me, making her slightly gullible in my hands. I promise I was not going to use my position to make her do what I want… Well, maybe once.

Not without any effort I and Lilly found Loki’s room, which was (surprise, surprise!) all emerald green and gold, even the door! So, God of Mischief, let’s see who is more devious!

I have to say that Lilly overdid herself, so either she also hated Loki or she really liked me, nevertheless both of the options were pretty satisfying for me! After our primary mission Lilly helped to redecorate my room, and it turns out that, unlike their horrible son, Queen Frigga and King Odin were considerate and originally decorated my room in my colours. Thanking Lilly for her efforts and giving her one of my daggers as a token of gratitude (Don’t worry, it wasn’t large or sharp!), I finally let her go. Only then I remembered that I, along with my family, was invited to small royal family dinner. Quickly putting on my boots, tight trousers and the dress in red and royal blue colours, I headed out for the dinner hall.

 

***

When I arrived, the whole party was already there including my dear fiancé and his brother, the future King of Asgard, Thor. It appears that my parents took care of me and seated me next to Loki to my great dissatisfaction. This, however, was outweighed by the look of surprise on his face when he saw my cloths. His astonishment was barely visible, yet not unnoticed. Sighing with satisfaction, I planted myself on my seat and smiled to the rest of the company.

‘My dear, - Queen Frigga started, catching my smile, - we heard a lot about you from your parents, and I have to say I admire your loyalty to your people and the strength as well as your intelligence! I’m sure you are going to be a wonderful Queen, and I am hoping Loki will help you with this.’

‘Of course, mother, how could I not?’ – Loki parroted these words, as if he learned them by heart, completely disinterested in the conversation. But then I saw his wicked smirk directed towards me and started to doubt this.

‘Do not worry, Princess Artemisia, my brother will be loving and supporting husband!’ Suddenly boomed Thor, and I barely forced myself not to laugh at the naivety of his words, nevertheless there was something about him that I immediately liked. He was simple, trusting and truthful.

‘And I will try to be helpful and loving wife!’ I parroted as well, trying to look as disinterested as Loki was.

Apparently, there was some tension, and the conversion was not flowing at all. So I decided that I might as well strengthen my strategic and battle skills, if this turns out to such a boring gathering.

‘Your Majesty, I heard you are finally trying to make peace with your other neighbouring realm, Jotunheim? I followed the news that was spreading out about your wits and strategic battle and negotiation skills, and I was wondering if you could teach me? You see, Ariana is quite a small realm, so nobody is really interested in conquering it, and as you might conclude that does not contribute to my battle skills.’

‘Of course, My Lady! – King Odin sounded so delighted about this, - I very am happy that someone is interested in my experience other than Thor!’ 

With these words he purposefully and strictly glanced to Loki as if hinting, no, rather ordering him, to join the conversation and be interested in his father battle experience.

‘I do not see the point of this, Father. Lady Armis (Yes, he was still on that!) does not need your experience, because she will have me as her husband. She would not need to worry at all. As do I! Armis said Ariana is a small country, no one will ever dignify her with even thoughts of conquering it!’

He just had to do it, isn’t he?! Fuming, I balled my hands into the fists and started to rise, ready to kill Loki with my look.

But I was interrupted by his father: 

‘Loki, I do not believe this is a way to talk about your future wife! Please, apologise or go straight to your room and think about the consequences of your behaviour!’

‘Really? Think about the consequences of my behaviour? Do you believe I am still a child?! Not yours, but still a child that needs scolding?!’From the looks of it, this was an endless argument between the two, which I really did not want to be a part of.

‘You will do as I say, Son!

‘I am not your son!’ – Loki said quietly, abruptly got up from his chair and left (Hopefully to his room).

Behaving as if nothing just happened, Odin turned to me.

‘My Lady, should we continue our conversation? As I said, I will be happy to share my knowledge and experience on this matter. Bring peace to Asgard and Jotunheim was tiring and hard process, which required a lot of patience, but I believe that we are on the finish line...’

When I opened my mouth to ask a question, I was again interrupted by a guard who burst into the dining hall panting from rushing here.

‘My King, Jotunheim… They invaded one of our villages, claiming end to our peace treaty!’

At the same very moment, we heard a frustrated scream, which sounded a lot like Loki. Well, either he was very unhappy about the news or maybe he saw his room, which was of colours blood red and bright blue now …

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading my story ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry I haven't been posting for a while! :( Been very busy with uni :(  
> Hope you will enjoy another chapter!

I fell really hard; air knocked out of my lungs.

‘Armis, I do not believe lying on the floor will teach you the fight skills you were desperately asking my father about.’

I got up sloppily, hating every fibre of his being.

‘Do. No. Call. Me. Armis!’

With every word I tried to land a punch on Loki, yet failing to do so as he used the illusions and tricks to beat me. The invasion of the village was stopped and for now Jotuns did not take any further steps. Odin took this time to prepare for the battles and to teach me about the fighting techniques. And apparently, the first lesson was to learn close combat. With Loki. Little did he know… Well, I do not want to give away all the secrets!

‘First lesson, Armis. You should always be in a fighting stance, when in combat, arms protecting your head.’

With these words he took my elbows and forced my hands in a fighting stance ‘accidentally’ hitting me in the face with my own arms.

‘Secondly, find out the weaknesses of your opponent and use them to your advantage. He is shorter than you? Get to a safer distance and use your longer arms to hit him, whilst he cannot reach you.’

He walked catlike to his safe distance and flicked me. Flicked me!!! Can you imagine that? Ready to unleash my full wrath on him I prepared for my next move, but suddenly Queen Frigga entered the room. Smoothing ruffling of her skirts and mother like voice distracted me from my primary goal.

‘Lady Artemisia, could we possibly talk when you have a moment?’

‘I would be very delighted, my Qu…’

In an instant, I heard a voice behind my back.

‘Lesson three, Armis, do not take the eyes from your opponent!’

I felt a punch coming my way and quickly reacted to it. Grabbing Loki by his punching arm, I punched him in a stomach with my elbow, crossed my legs with his for him to lose the balance and finally, using all of my strength, throwing Loki over me, thus, bringing him to his back. I guess I was too tired of him!

And yes, I had been fighting since I was 10! But Loki did not have to know it, right?

I smiled triumphantly; bending down to meet Loki’s shocked face.

‘Look, Loki, we have been together for only three days and you are already on your back!’

Further bending down to bring my lips to his, so only he could hear my next words, I whispered challengingly:

‘Just so you know, I will not marry you, because I made an oath to accept the one, who could beat me in a fight, and that is obviously not you!’

I saw pure rage in his eyes and heard a genuine chuckle from Frigga.

 

***

As we got away from Loki to the garden, where he could not hear us, the Queen went straight to the point:

‘So I see Loki is treating you well…’

‘Yes, my Queen, Loki tries as much as he can’. That is to make my life a living hell. The other day he entered my bathroom while I was there, heated up the water to almost impossible temperature, causing me to jump out of the bathroom and then, when I grabbed my bathrobe, he changed its colour and then got the metal cup thrown at his face. Ok, maybe he is not the only one who could do that.

‘Don’t flatter me, Lady Artemisia, I know about the bathrobe and the metal cup situation. Loki tried to conceal his bruise for quite some time!’ Frigga gently smiled.

I smiled back still feeling a bit awkward, while she continued.

‘Look, I know you and Loki may not be on the best terms, but I believe you can work it out, even Odin and I did!’

‘Maybe you could have started by telling him this first…’ I grumbled, feeling bold. The Queen again mildly laughed. Does she find everything I say funny?

‘He is the next in line’

‘That’s… Fair’ I decided to drop it.

‘Lady Artemisia, I am not going to take much more of your time, I just want to tell you this. I don’t want you to pretend like everything is great with Loki or that you adore him…’

‘You don’t?’

‘No, in fact, I want you to argue and to fight with him more! At least that way you talk and get to know each other. I believe the greatest love comes out of the greatest hate. I know you desperately want to argue with me, but please don’t. I was in your shoes and I completely understand what you are going through. After all, I am the wife of the AllFather! Now, as I said, I don’t want to waste another second of your time, so please get back to your training. Good luck!’

With these words, Queen Frigga transported us back to the training room in the blink of an eye, back to Loki, who was still fuming that I beat him. Yeah, easy to say ‘Good luck!’, now I have to deal with the furious Loki!

 

***

Getting into my fighting stance I was ready to pounce whenever Loki starts to move. But what I haven’t thought of is that it may be his illusion and the real Loki is standing behind me…

‘You think you are smarter than me pretending like you don’t know how to fight, petty princess?’

He then tripped me, causing me to fall on my back again, but this time I decided not to pretend and reacted quickly by bringing him down with me.Although I was glad I did not fail alone, our current position with him on top of me made me very uncomfortable. Expecting him to make a sexual innuendo any second I shyly lifted my eyes to meet his. However, what I next saw was not smirking and triumphant Loki, but confused and flushed one, and this made me even shyer. Furiously blushing I stared back at Loki mesmerised with his amazing emerald eyes, while he, for some unfathomable reason, stared back into my eyes deep in thought himself. Suddenly, his eyes flicked down my face, somewhere below my nose… He started leaning…

‘Brother! I see Lady Artemisia has already brought you down with her charms’

‘Her fighting skills actually!’ Loki rolled his eyes at Thor and quickly disappeared of me.

‘Really?! Lady Armis, I shall gladly spar with the one who beat Loki!’

Oh, so I see this nickname is catching on… How… Amazing!

‘Thor, firstly, she just brought me down, she haven't won yet and, secondly, her name is Lady Artemisia and you will call her as such, she is my fiancée after all!’ Loki suddenly grunted annoyingly.

‘I believe it is my right to decide how I am going to be called’ I raised my eyebrow at Loki; I really wanted him to leave me alone with all his haughtiness and annoyance. ‘And I gladly allow Prince Thor to call me Armis, just Armis’

I smiled radiantly at Thor ignoring Loki.

‘My prince, I would gladly spar with you now if you prefer it’

‘It’s settled then! What would you choose as your weapon?’

‘My sword’

‘Daggers’

Loki and I said I unison. I glared furiously at him as he continued.

‘I believe it would be fun if we all three spared together, otherwise who is going to help Armis against my brother?’

With these words he got out his daggers and still smirking came to the centre of the training arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will try to post another one as soon as possible! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for my posting timetable! I am horrible at this! Nevertheless, I hope you'll enjoy another chapter :)

I stood in my fighting position eyeing Thor, but with my sword pointed at Loki. It’s him I didn’t trust the most, not his brother. Thor mouthed ‘Let’s start!’ and I charged at Loki…

‘PRINCESS ARTEMISIA, DAUGHTER OF STELIOS!’

Oh, no… Not this voice! And in front of Thor and, much worse, Loki!

Quickly dropping my blades I sheepishly looked at the direction of the voice:

‘Yes, Mom? I was just talking with Thor and Loki, nothing more. They decided to spar and I just watched! I swear!’

‘That’s why you have a large bruise emerging on your forehead and shield on your back?!’ Mom was clearly in a bad mood. No! Is it because Loki flicked my before?! Quickly but furiously glancing at Loki who, realising the source of the bruise and the ridiculousness of this situation, had a hard time concealing his laugh.

‘No, I just had a hard time dealing with the door.’ I smiled sweetly at her.

‘Oh, yeah, so it flicked her!’ Loki retorted looking innocently at me, whilst Thor was just looking back and forth trying to find the hidden subtext in our bickering. Using all my strength to not pick up the sword and knock Loki out with hilt I looked over to my Mom.

‘Loki is right, Mom! Just my clumsiness!’

‘I hope you are not lying, young lady!’ Young lady? Seriously, Mom? Instead I just produced my best angel-like smile while hearing some snickering from where Thor and Loki stood. I am going to kill them!

‘Now, we have to go to the dress fitting, because as you remember, your last one strangely ended up covered in grass, horse hair and dirt.’ My Mom calmed down taking her usual stance with crossed arms and a lifted eyebrow. One of my other little adventures in Asgard besides sparring.

‘Yes, Mother, I will be in a minute. Just let me say ‘Goodbye’ to Prince Thor and Loki.’ Seeming more relaxed with my obedience she nodded her head and started walking from the arena towards our quarters. As soon as she left, I turned to the two princes who by now were red from trying to contain their laughter.

‘O, ha ha! Knock it off! I wonder what’s your conversations with Queen Frigga are like!’

That shut them up quite nicely turning their faces even brighter shade of red, especially Loki’s, which gave me immense satisfaction.

‘On that note, - I smiled, picking up my swords, - I better leave you to the sparring, will try to join you latter.

‘Of course, Lady Artemisia! Good luck with your dress-fitting! Try not to spoil this one at least!’ Thor smiled back with mirth playing in his eyes. It was him I went horse-riding with, so he knew all about the dress incident.

‘Well, next time you try it, Prince Thor!’ I laughed barely noticing that Loki just listened to our flirtations not even uttering a word. Well, if he ignores our flirt bluntly, I will do it more often! I became annoyed suddenly, so decided not even to dignify him with a goodbye.

Turning on my heels I walked towards to armoury and put my swords down in the secret place I found for myself. Quickly cleaning my tousled hair and creased from fighting cloths, I hurried from the princes towards the exit of the arena hoping they will not notice that…

‘I believe your quarters are exactly in the opposite way.’ Silky and annoying voice appeared behind me causing me to jump slightly. 

‘Shut up!’

‘O, so noble Princess Artemisia, I believe that you are going to be late for your dress-fitting.’

‘Yes, Loki, and you care a great deal about this dress-fitting why exactly?’

‘Well, I want to see how torturous this is for you and how you are going to suffer, oh, and, of course, if you are my wife, you are supposed to be beautiful... Well, that’s a hard one to accomplish..’ Loki put a hand to his chin as if thinking how he could achieve it. I just rolled my eyes at him.

‘Calling me ugly, how innovative of you! And here I thought you were a silver-tongue! And by the way, you look awful as well!’

‘Very clever comeback, Armis! Oh, and by the way, what was that with Thor?’

‘It’s Lady Artemisia to you! And I have no idea what you are talking about!’

‘Of course, Armis.’

‘Shh!’ Suddenly I heard someone coming our way and shushed Loki quickly.

‘Did you just shush me?!’ Loki whispered indignantly.

‘Yes, and I’m going to do it again if you don’t shut up!’ Angrily I whispered back. That somebody was approaching and that somebody could be my mom, which will be a nightmare to me and a show for Loki. By the looks of it, Loki was not going to shut up anytime soon, and there was only choice left for me as horrible as it was.

As the person down the hall was coming closer and soon reaching our corner, I quickly grabbed Loki, who was ready to scream something just for the fun of it, and shoved him to the nearest door I found here.

It was dark. And it was small. This meant that we were forced up close to each other, our chests collapsing and our breathing intertwined. I barely knew Loki, and this awkward situation was not helping at all. Determined not to say anything and not to move, so not to make the situation worse, I patiently waited for the steps to cease. Loki, on the other hand, felt my tension and was happy to make it even more awkward.

‘Why so tense, Princess Armis?’

‘I’m Artemisia’ I whispered quietly casting my eyes down.

‘Ah, you are still on that… Darling, try to embrace me as your future husband’ With these words he moved even closer, his nose colliding with mine.

‘Yes, as you have accepted that I am to be your wife?’ For some reason, I said it without anger or frustration. This sounded more like me trying to accept what is happening with my life and to accept that usually life is not fair, especially to a woman. This sounded more like bitterness with a hint of sadness rather than a clever retort and I hated myself for it.

But Loki did not feast on my emotions like I expected. Instead, he did something I could never imagine him do. He took my hand and brought it to his lips. My big and not so delicate hand was brought to his aristocratic and thin mouth, and that mouth kissed it gently, without malice.

‘Maybe we could both work towards it then’ He said mildly with mirth twinkling in his eyes. My eyes almost popped out and my mouth was wide open. My hand felt so good in his, especially when it was brought to his lips, I could not think about anything else. It was such a gentlemanly gesture. In our world not many people do it, people start snogging each other before they even get to know each other. This brought some sweet warmth to my stomach along with some butterflies. Suddenly Loki frowned at my slightly dreamy expression.

And then there was…

‘Yes, Princess Artemisia, of course you can hide here!’

Now my eyes definitely popped out! He screamed it for everyone to hear! He had to be a jerk, hadn’t he? I wrenched my hand from his immediately and balled it into a fist, ready to punch him in his smirking and annoying face. It literally took him everything to not laugh at my reaction, even his raven locks trembling with silent laughter, and it annoyed me even more. 

But then I heard the same footsteps I dreaded seconds ago. They were coming closer and closer to us. I panicked. Confusedly looking around the closet I did not know what to do to conceal my presence here. There was nowhere to hide and nothing or no one to shelter myself with… 

Wait, no one? My eyes darted to Loki, who was smiling wickedly at me with triumph in his eyes. As the doorknob started to turn, I didn’t have time to think, only to act. And I did.

Scared, I quickly wrapped my hands around Loki pulling him in a tight embrace. I put my arms around his waist and buried my head in the crook of his neck, so they intruder could not see my face, and hugged him even tighter.

Everything afterwards happened in a blur: I felt Loki hugging me back with the same vigour, putting his chin on my head, and the then the door opened widely letting the bright light in on us. A person who smelled and looked suspiciously like my Mom looked around the closet, sighed and closed the door leaving us in the darkness again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You see, I kept my word and updated :)
> 
> Some of my thoughts here, so, please, note that this is my opinion, so if you do not agree with it, do not get mad ;)
> 
> Also, I decided to make my story a little more AUish and made up Frigga's backstory.
> 
> Enjoy!

After our little incident with Loki I had trouble sleeping for the several nights. No, surprisingly my Mom did not find me in the closet, so it had nothing to do with her. A person who haunted my dreams was Loki. During our little encounter in the closet, he hugged my back and made us both invisible hiding me from my mother’s eyes and from the consequent dress-fitting. As soon as I realised it, I hugged him even tighter under some unknown impulse. Only then I felt something brush my hair and wondered vaguely through my confusion if it were his lips. Quickly discarding the ridiculous thought I loosened my grip and immediately felt his body heat leaving me. Loki just disappeared leaving me flustered with my thoughts disorganised.

I haven’t seen him for the whole week, only briefly, when King Odin and His sons officially invited me to the ball in honour of King’s birthday, which was happening later today. Even then he looked bored and annoyed. Otherwise, I spent most of my time training with Thor and enjoying the palace. Thor introduced me to his friends: Warriors Three and Lady Sif, and that fascinated me immensely. Lady Sif, being the only female warrior in Asgard army undoubtedly earned my utmost admiration and made me want to be her friend. I also found out a lot about Frost Giants, the war that was happening with them and the true heritage of Loki. This immediately made a lot of sense to me, now that I knew why Loki acted this way with his adopted parents, although it still did not justify him to me. Loki seemed to be thinking of himself as the victim in some torture that did not exist. He craved Odin’s attention, yet tried to convince himself that Odin hated him and only loved Thor, which, of course, was not true. This brought a lot of disagreements into the royal family. All of this I found out from Thor, from our long talks after our training, which I liked far more than any of my interactions with Loki.

Today, however, we found ourselves discussing the topic I never thought I will talk about with Thor.

‘No, Armis, I do not agree with you on this subject, unfortunately…’

‘So you do not believe a woman could rule a kingdom no worse than a man?’ This infuriated me and made me want to leave him here just like that.

‘No, no, Princess, please, do not twist my words’

‘Women had to prove themselves over and over again working harder and better for even a drop of what a man just gets because he is a man! And you are saying it’s justified?’ I almost screamed at him not even caring if he is a Prince Regent.

‘Please, Armis, just calm down, now I understand why you infuriate my brother so much’ Thor chuckled but continued. ‘What I meant to say…’ He stumbled a bit. ‘Just let me give my Mother as an example of my reason and maybe this will give you a much clearer view of my thoughts’

I arched my eyebrow looking at him expectedly, thus, causing him to stumble once more in his monologue. Nevertheless, he continued.

‘My Mother was a Princess in her own kingdom ruling alongside her older brother on equal footing with him. However, after she married my Father, she moved to Asgard. Not because she was a woman, but rather because she just was younger and the heritance laws cannot be changed. It is similar to what is happening now with Loki: he is marrying you because he is younger brother, not because he is adopted, although he likes this idea and loves torturing himself with that. No, if I was younger and he was older, he would be the King and I would be your husband’ He chuckled seeing my shocked reaction. Well, I haven’t thought of that, apparently.

‘My point is, Lady Artemisia, that whatever barriers you imagine you have to overcome have been broken long time ago. You see, my Mother, chose family over ruling Asgard not because it is her duty as a wife and a woman, but because she CAN choose and because she doesn’t have to prove herself to anyone and because she does not have to justify her choices. These barriers are broken. Nobody considers Queen Frigga as an extension to King Odin, but rather everyone thinks of them as one being. And how there can be discrimination if there is no one to compare to? I believe everyone has their own specific set of skills, and yes, sometimes, some of these skills, like intuition, are usually contributed to a woman, whereas other, like strength, are contributed to a man. But that doesn't mean a woman could not be strong or a man could not possess good intuition. Everyone is who they want to be – that is the definition of equality, my Princess, and that is why my Mother is who she is now. I believe the same could apply to you. If you want, you could be a mother, or a Queen, or both. But I believe no one could rule the kingdom alone, not you, Loki or even my Father. So maybe you could just focus on the skills you are good at and behave not like you have to fight every step of the way, but like you don't have to and like you deserve it. And yes, you have worked harder to get it, but during our days I want it believe that people will know it and will show you the appropriate respect. If you believe yourself that you deserve ruling your own kingdom and don't have to work harder than any man, then everyone else will definitely believe it as well!’

To say that I was shocked was to say nothing. Thor definitely possessed wisdom I never imagined him having and that contributed even more to his argument. Still processing this in my mind I smiled at him.

‘Prince Thor, you are going to be a great King someday. I hope I could get at least half as wise as you when I start to rule my kingdom’

Thor laughed.

‘Well, I learnt it the hard way, my Princess, it took a whole banishment to gather such, as you call it, wisdom’

‘Let’s hope it would not get to that’ I laughed as well. ‘After all I have a great teacher!’

‘You flatter me, Princess!’ Too occupied with our conversation, I did not notice that we were near my quarters, where my mother awaited me to start the preparations for the ball.

Turning my body to Thor, I extended my arm for a handshake.

‘Thank you, my Prince, for such mind-altering conversation. It really helped with my struggles!’

Instead of a handshake, Thor brought my arm to his lips and kissed it slightly. Weird, I did not feel any annoyance or confusion from his gesture as I felt with Loki.

‘You were a delight to speak with’ Thor smirked back at me with mirth in his eyes. ‘Hope to see you at the ball, Princess Artemisia. Oh, and good luck with the dress!’

Oh, I see, so it runs in the family!

‘We’ll discuss it in the arena next time!’ I laughed closing the door.

***

At 8 in the evening sharp, I heard a knock on my door. Hoping it might be Thor, I lunged towards the door carefully as to not ruin my Mom’s hard work, to open it and greet him with a smile. Instead I was greeted with uninterested and bored face of my nemesis. Smile quickly fell from my face, and my eyes produced a hopefully deathly glare. Ignoring my stare Loki froze suddenly for a second, his eyes widening slightly, then he checked me out without even concealing it and grinned widely. The source of his grin was, of course, my dress. My Mom decided it would be polite if I wear the colours of my future husband, and obviously I didn’t get a say in that. I wore a long emerald green silk dress with intricate patterns which had quite a wide skirt and flowed freely down my legs with a slit that reached up to the middle of my muscled thigh. The dress was long-sleeved with the gold breastplate on my chest and gauntlets on my wrists. Although the breastplate covered most of my chest, it was designed such way that my whole back until my low back was naked showing pretty much all of my white muscled back. Around the edges on the back, where the dress began, there were also some intricate golden patterns which were beautiful, but itchy. And it took all of my might not scratch it! My brown curls were pulled up in a messy bun with some loose ends. My hair was also enchased with golden threads with small emeralds. The whole colour design resonated nicely with my eyes, which were yellowishly green. The colours of my dress, however, brought out the warm yellow of my eyes making them look catlike and xanthous.

‘Lady Armis, how nice of you to wear the colours of your future husband!’ Loki smirked widely, enjoying every moment of my suffering.

‘My Mom forced me to wear it!’ I quickly told him. Without even expecting him to hold out his hand for me, I walked past him pushing his shoulder slightly, aiming for the ballroom.

What I did not notice was his surprised and then hungry look when I turned my bare back to him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter for you to enjoy :) This is actually a big one, and I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you'll like it.

The ball was amazing. The ballroom was spacious and handsomely decorated – courtesy of Queen Frigga, I guess. The golden columns went up the sky with intricate carved patterns on them. The floor was white marble polished to the point when you can see your face in the reflection. The drapes were rich scarlet velvet as were the table cloths. And in the middle of it King Odin towered over everyone.

The whole picture took my breath away. My eyes roamed over the ballroom, the rare decorations and beautifully dressed people. Everyone wore some golden pieces – courtesy to King Odin, and this made the light dance off the walls and accessories creating even more luxurious and sparkling look. Although we had some pretty amazing balls in Ariana, nothing compared to the splendour of this one. Too mesmerised with the view I dropped my arm from Loki’s, walking forward and slowly taking in the whole picture.

‘Appalling, isn’t it?’ Loki smirked at my reaction.

‘I… Have never seen such a big room!’ Was all I managed to say. This caused him to chuckle. Sure, I could give him that! Not exactly the cleverest retort or even a retort for that matter.

Suddenly I remembered why I have never seen such a big room. And the same anxious feeling enveloped me again. I could not bear to be around so many people at the same time! My panic switched on as if on cue and I gripped back Loki’s hand. What kind of a Queen can you be if you cannot even properly talk to people, you will say? Apparently, I will be, and that scared me even more. Sure I could talk to a small group of people, but a huge ballroom? And mingle with strangers? I could not do that! My face immediately reddening from panic, I turned to Loki.

‘Ehm… Could you walk with me and introduce me to some people you know? Just as a start? You can get rid of me afterwards?’

His eyes widened slightly in satisfaction.

‘Where is the magic word, Armis?’

I rolled my eyes, my face still red, and then whispered quietly.

‘Please’

‘And now the whole sentence?’ Getting annoyed, I started to forget what my panic was about.

‘Please, could you show me around and introduce me to some people?’

Loki brought his head back with laughter.

‘Princess Armis is begging me! Now we are getting there!’

‘Will you show me or not?’ I snapped, but then quieted down realising my disadvantage. ‘Please’

Loki turned marble-like face towards me, smiled wildly, tightened his grip on my arm and then said:

‘No!’

With that he released me and quickly disappeared in the crowd leaving me completely alone. This immediately brought my panic back, and I gripped my dress tightly on both sides.

‘Lady Armis!’ Suddenly the voice over my head thundered. ‘So do you want me to introduce you to someone here? You seem not yourself. Are you okay?’

‘Prince Thor!’ I quickly spanned on my heels. ‘Pfft! I am perfectly fine!’

Thor raised his eyebrow at me his eyes looking directly to my balled fists.

‘Okay, maybe some introductions would be nice…’

As we walked around and met some people, I more and more realised how bad I was at it. How I hated meeting new people and how awkward I was with them. Thor chatted with them happily, whilst I just smiled and nodded. This made me realise that with such people skills I could not rule Ariana, because one of the essential qualities a Queen should have was my worst developed quality.

However, as I watched Loki moving fluidly around the room, I had to begrudgingly admit that his people skills were excellent. He indeed was the sliver tongue. He just chatted freely making them relaxing bringing their walls down and confessing some potentially useful stuff that Loki will definitely use in the future. This brought me back to the conversation I had with Thor about ruling alone. How he wisely admitted that people in power should complement each other focusing on what each of them is good at. Perhaps, if Loki was to be my King, his diplomacy will help Ariana greatly. And at the same time, this will allow me to focus on the things that I am good at, for example, security and protection of my country, resolution of the disputes among the citizens or creating the laws. And sure, perhaps Loki will be good at it as well helping me to deal with the burden… I suddenly started to realise the full power of Thor’s words and had to admit once again that he was the wise one.

Bringing my thoughts back to Thor’s conversation I smiled and again nodded. This was too ‘fun’…

Luckily, our little conversation circle was interrupted by King Odin who wanted to make a thanking speech for all the people here who gathered here to celebrate his birthday. I started to frantically searching for Loki knowing that both of our parents would not be satisfied if we listened to King’s speech on the opposite sides of the ballroom as a happily engaged couple. However, he very soon approached me, his face not betraying any emotions. Putting his arm around my waist for public display, he returned his gaze to his Father.

I was usually bored at these types of speeches, so I took my time looking around the ballroom admiring the view and not paying any attention to Loki or his arm. Soon, however, I felt something weird on my bare back. I was already annoyed at my Mom for putting me in this dress, and these weird yet strangely pleasant sensations on my back freaked me out. Some slender and soft fingers were tracing circles on my back, and it wasn’t unpleasant and sent shivers down my spine. I hated it, and it had to end, so I hissed at Loki quietly squinting slightly.

‘What exactly are you doing?’

Either I was that naïve, and Loki really did jump and tried to recompose himself at my voice not noticing his actions, or he was just ruffling my feathers and pretending that he cared just to play another trick later on. Naturally, I thought the latter and tensed up expected him to make some kind of a snide remark. And he did not disappoint me.

‘You did not like it, Lady Artemisia? I thought the goose bumps on your back display the opposite!’

‘They appeared because of how disgusting you are!’ I said blushing deeply.

‘Of course, my dear tender wife!’

‘Sometimes I hate you so much I want to strangle you with my bare hands!’ I turned towards him and bared my teeth. His hand was still on my small back and not going anywhere. His eyes looked directly into mine, and hips lips converted into his trademark smirk. To reinforce my statement I grabbed him with both of my hands by the lapels of his jacket and straightened it forcefully. To my satisfaction, this made him cough a bit; to my disappointment this actually forced King Odin and everyone to look at us.

‘Not even married and already groping each other!’ The King laughed and all the others followed.

This turned my face beetroot red. I lowered my gaze, releasing Loki, and weirdly enough Loki tightened his grip on me.

Odin continued.

‘Well then, this sounds like a good reason for you to do the first dance tonight!’ Everyone around us cheered, and I gripped again Loki’s jacket in fear, while he lowered his smiling gaze down on me. No! I am not doing it! Never! How about war with Jotunheim? Why are we not fighting now? I could go now! In fact, I so much prefer fighting now to dancing with my most hated person in front of everyone.

Loki released his hold, and I felt panic creeping back to my chest along with the feeling of lost warmth of his embrace. However, before I could turn around and run away, my vision suddenly caught the slender and aristocratic hand clad in green sleeve. For a second, I froze not knowing what to do. But then I realised that if I am ever to become a Queen, I have to learn to do at least that. So hesitantly and closing my eyes for a second, I extended to arm into his.

I knew how to dance; after all I was a princess. What I didn’t know is how to behave in front of so many people. So when Loki pulled me into his embrace, I gripped him tightly as if holding for dear life. Surprisingly, he did not comment on it. He just said three strangely soft words, leaning closer to my ear.

‘Focus on me’

And I did. My eyes snapped to his emerald ones, and I could not look away. He then whispered gently.

‘Just sway’

So I took the first step back, as he moved forward. Soft but exciting music started playing, and we simply swayed. As Loki saw me getting more confident, we started moving in circles. Then he swirled me. With each note I got braver and braver as I swirled around the ballroom with him, my eyes not leaving his even for a millisecond. His face wore focused expression with gentle look in his eyes. He did not look like his usual haughty self, no, he looked calm. His short raven hair was combed back, his face pale as always. Surprisingly, he never looked more handsome to me. More people started to join us, but we did not notice them, we danced on our own. It felt so natural being in his arms and looking into his eyes that I wished I could do it forever. His cool fingers on my bare back felt so refreshing it sent goose bumps down my spine again. Apparently Loki noticed it, because he smiled gently, but did not make any remark on it. As the music was reaching its culmination, we span faster and faster, and I was getting lightheaded. My head started spinning with me and I was afraid I was going to lose control over my body. But then the music suddenly stopped, so we stopped as well. As my head was still feeling weird, I had to stand there for a moment to gather myself together. Hoping Loki would not leave me now, I held him for support still looking into his eyes. Our faces were so close I could feel his cool breath on my lips and actually smell him. His scent was sharp yet so refreshing, like apples! Yes, like green apples! And it felt so nice! I closed my eyes just to breathe in the scent, when I heard him say something. His lips were so near that with each word he spoke, they slightly touched mine.

‘That was…’

‘Awful!’ I rushed to insert my part, smiling slightly.

He quickly opened his eyes, but when he saw my face, he smiled softly back. ‘Yes, indeed’

 

***

As we walked without holding hands towards my quarters, we did not say much. To be honest, there was not much to say, so the comfortable silence settled in. I decided to break it.

‘I don’t know why you walk me to my room. I am perfectly capable to getting there myself’

‘Seeing as how hard you swirled with me, I hardly think so!’ Loki wolfishly grinned at me with his arms behind his back.

Too tired to rebuff him, I just huffed in annoyance, which earned a small chuckle from him.

As I was approaching my door, I quickly span around to face him with the door behind my back. The pleasant feeling of satisfaction with the evening spread down my limbs making me relaxed even more. Quickly casting his eyes on the floor and then bringing them back to meet my face, Loki suddenly said.

‘I would kiss you on the cheek, but I’m afraid both of our parents will faint and reveal themselves from wherever they are hiding now!’

I genuinely laughed.

‘I really hated our evening!’

‘Oh yeah’ Loki replied with smile playing on his lips. ‘Thank you for your awful company!’

‘You were horrible!’

‘And you looked ridiculously hideous in that dress!’

My secret smile widened reaching my eyes. Breaking the eye contact, I turned to my door.

‘Goodnight, Prince Loki’

He bowed and started to walk away. But then…

‘Maybe…’

‘Yes?’ I said too eagerly turning around again.

‘Maybe I’ll try and risk our parents’ wellbeing’

He slowly approached me and leaned closer as if prolonging the moment. For some reason I closed my eyes. I felt his scent again and then a small peck followed. His lips were smooth and felt really pleasant against my cheek. I opened my eyes, but Loki did not move away. My eyes again found his forest green ones. His lips slowly progressed towards mine.

‘Perhaps I should risk some more’ And again, with each word his lips slightly touched mine as I breathed the air he exhaled. Suddenly I was not really sure if he talked about the risk of being watched by our parents or something else. Not replying him anything, I glanced down to his pale lips. Now they were dangerously close, and I started to feel some anxiety (or excitement?) in my stomach. We both simultaneously closed our eyes and…

‘Loki, another village has been attacked! Gather your armour, Father asked us both to personally protect the villagers!’ Thor voice boomed through the hallway bringing us back to reality.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! Been quite busy lately, so was not able to write a lot. Here's another chapter for you to enjoy!

After my enormous amount of begging my mother still did not let me ride with the rest of the party which included Thor, Loki, Lady Sif, Warriors of Three and about twenty soldiers as it was not my war to play at. Thor looked apologetically at me, patted me on the shoulder and rode away. Loki just smirked. He came back from out little interaction to his usual self quite quickly acting as if nothing happened, which was true but still disappointing nonetheless. And the others, well, there was nothing they could do against my mother to be honest.

Because of the small size of the group, I figured they could obviously spot a woman riding with them. And figuring out who that woman was easy afterwards. So if I wanted to come and fight with them, I had to disguise myself. Doing so turned out to be quite easy: I went to soldiers’ quarters and pretty quickly found spare armour some common soldier left behind. Changing quickly into a male warrior and locking my room so everyone thought I was done for the evening, I grabbed my horse and rushed to catch up with the rest of the party. I wrapped my chest with some fabric, put away my hair and put a helmet on, so no one will recognise me as a woman or as a guest Princess.

I caught up with them quite quickly and joined the tail of the party to be as unrecognisable as possible.

The ride to the village was fast and quiet with running horses and wind in our hair. Everyone was solemnly focused on the battle ahead of them, so I decided to gather my thoughts as well. I have never had any big battle experience although I was pretty confident that my fighting skills were more than satisfactory despite the fact that my people felt otherwise. My confidence, however, began to waver in the light of the upcoming battle. Firmly gripping my swords that I brought with me, I exhaled slowly and lift my eyes to watch the horizon. Although it was pretty late after the ball, I did not have any desire to sleep at all.

 

***

I soon did not have to ponder about the battle as we quickly came in the middle of the weak attempts of the villagers to defend themselves from the Frost Giants. With a battle cry Thor rushed into the centre of the fight with Loki not farther behind him. In an instant, however, I did not have the time to observe the Princes as I was also attacked.

Swiftly jumping off my horse to get right to it, I quickly assessed the situation and decided to act. Not taking into account any of my fellow soldiers, I started fighting by pushing one of the Giants in the chest with my leg thus hopping on another one, my thighs holding his neck in a death lock. Extracting of the swords from the belt I swiftly slashed his throat, blood spilling everywhere. Freeing myself from the dead body, I did a high leg kick to Giant approaching me, knocked down another one who tried to seize me from behind with my head and finished my fourth by a simple stab of the sword in the chest. I then slowly progressed towards the Princes punching and fighting with my way through the wall of Frost Giants, fire and screaming villagers.

However, as I reached to the epicentre of the fight, some very big Giant grabbed me by the neck lifting me in air as if trying to choke me. Prince Thor, always looking after his soldiers rushed to my help, easily disposing of three Frost Giants with his hammer. But as soon as Loki saw me, the realization shined through his amazingly green eyes, and he slapped his brother on his chest as if stopping him, some wicked thoughts going through his mind. I then heard him say to Thor:

‘Focus on the villagers, I believe, this one is able to save herself’

Either Thor did not notice the venom in Loki’s voice and the use of a different gender in his speech or he just was too involved in the heat of the battle, but he decided to listen to Loki and went to the completely opposite direction.

Finally allowing myself to set all my emotions towards Loki free, fury rose in my chest and I let out a growl. Swiftly grabbing another sword from my belt, I kicked my attacker in the chest causing her to stumble and loosen her grip. Using this to finally breathe some air, I cut her arms with my right blade. Losing her balance, the Ice Giant started falling as I finished her with a stab into the heart.

To my satisfaction, I noticed that Loki froze in his spot obviously not expecting such turn of events as his plan of quickly disposing of me failed. He only flinched after I sent one of my swords flying in his direction, barely touching him and killing the Ice Giant who tried to attack Loki from behind while he stood so openly in the field. At the same very moment Thor approached him also trying to shield him from the attacker but a minute too late. So instead he just said with his open smile:

‘You are right, brother! Our soldiers are more than capable of standing up for themselves!’

I only smirked at his words looking directly into Loki’s eyes and then lunged again into battle with me closer by my side, and thus our competition started.

 

***

With such encouraging spirits our fight was soon finished and the attackers defeated. The village was in ruins but the villagers did not suffer. Because Thor suspected that there might be another attack, he ordered for our little group to stay the night. So a camp was set up with the guards and shifts and everything, so the soldiers could get some sleep. This did not pose a problem for me as I was barely standing. However, not everyone was satisfied. As I was finally down laying my head of the ground beneath me, I heard a cold commanding voice passing by me.

‘You! With me, now!’

Growling inwardly I lazily got up and slowly walked after Prince Loki into his tent. Apparently, he did not succeed of accidentally killing me in the battle, so he decided to try another way. As he opened his tent for me gesturing to come in, I huffed loudly and pulled up another part of the door ignoring his gentlemanly gesture. As I entered the tent, I saw him roll his eyes and heard him murmur.

‘I’m going to kill her one day!’

For some reason, I smiled wickedly at this. As we got into the tent, I plopped myself on the matt that was splayed on the ground. Loki arched his eyebrow, his face otherwise stone like void of any emotions.

‘What? I thought that’s why you called me – I’m your fiancée after all, can’t be sleeping with the rest of the men’

‘No’ Loki said calmly trying very much to contain his swelling anger. ‘I have only one question: What the Hel are you doing here?!’

Not wanting to reveal my real reason, I decided to hide it under sarcasm.

‘Why, to be with my darling fiancé of course! As a faithful wife should be! Oh, and also I heard there are a lot of beautiful women in this part of kingdom, wouldn’t want you fooling around, my love!’

My overly false tone finally pushed Loki’s anger out.

‘You insufferable girl! First you came in MY kingdom and force me to marry you, then you torture me in the palace every step of the way and now, when I finally breathed freely for several seconds, you manage to follow me even here and bother me with your childish problems again!’

‘Me? Bothering you?! You must feel so highly and mighty about yourself! Because everything is always about you! Poor little prince, father forces you to marry some girl and become a king in the kingdom just out of blue! Yes, so dreadful! You always dreamed of being a king, so when your father actually gives it to you on silver plate and requires nothing but a bit of decency towards your future wife in return. Yes, a nightmare and injustice all around!’

Suddenly Loki’s tone filled with malice and menace. He slowly approached towering over me.

‘Do not talk like you know anything about me, you foolish naïve little girl!’

This didn’t scare me one bit. Instead I straightened my spin, and even though I was smaller than him, I still managed look challengingly at him.

‘Of course, how can I?! One minute you are THE gentleness and manners, all about kissing hands and smiling, and the next you are Loki, The God of Mischief... and malice! Why should I sort this out for you?! Please, determine who you want to be and then talk to me! Only then you can actually talk about pitying yourself or any injustice!’

This brought only more anger from Loki's side. His eyes flared with fire and he pointed his finger at me almost touching me.

‘You are just a spoiled foolish little girl who knows nothing about me, so you don't get to judge me!’

Harshly pushing his hand away, I decided not to give up.

‘I'm not judging you! You're correct, I don't have the right! What I have the right to is a little bit of decency towards me from you, no matter what!’

‘Oh, don't behave like you are the victim here! From the first day in the palace you treated me like I am the world's greatest evil ready to kill all the children and women! And you haven't even met me then!'

‘This is what you think and it has nothing to do with the reality! You are just a spoiled brat, who made up a story about his father neglecting him, which is not true! Of course, you could see this if you just opened your eyes! And also, I'm the kind of person who does not make assumptions when I first meet people! Nothing you did before you met me formed my opinion about yourself! It's all based on how you behave towards me now. I've done nothing to deserve your malice!’

‘Nothing?! You're ignorant, plain, naive and pestering creature who would love nothing more than to catch a Prince like me to marry! That's your ultimate goal, is it not?!’

That's it! I tried my best to behave rationally with him, but he just had to break my patience! Unable to fight these untrue and unjust words with words, I decided just to fight. Directing my whole anger and frustration at him, I launched my fist in his face. He deserved it!

Obviously he did not expect such a reaction. His head turned because of the impact and his eyes widened from the surprise. However, when he slowly turned his head back, his eyes were so narrowed I almost couldn't see them.

‘You try that again, wench, and I swear I will kill you!’

Obviously threats did not sit well with me. So I did the only thing that I deemed necessary. I punched him again.

This surprised him even more. Apparently not a lot of maidens raised a hand on their darling, handsome and mischievous prince. But nobody dared to call me 'wench'!

Or that's what I imagined should have happened...

In reality however Loki anticipated my attack and managed to grab my fist with his hand, his face expressing emotions far beyond anger or rage. Quick to react, I used my free arm to punch him in the stomach. It probably was not the best idea, but I was so angry at him that I was not really thinking. Prince actually shared my emotions completely, because he punched me back. Probably, he withheld his full strength on this punch, but it just enough for me to feel it.

And so our fight began. Luckily we were in a tent, which concealed everything, otherwise soldiers would be quite surprised to find a disguised Ariana’s Princess fighting with her darling fiancée.

Before I managed to punch him once more, Loki swiftly went down swirly around with one of his legs out making me lose my balance and falling flat on my back. Just as swiftly, I lifted my legs and crossed them at his neck, thus choking him from the ground. Using all my legs’ strength, I made him bent down giving me perfect window to punch him in the nose. This caused him to stumble backwards and almost fall down giving me time to bring myself up. We blocked each other’s punches for several seconds when I started to grow impatient at his resilience. So I performed a high roundhouse kick kicking him in the face an used this momentum to go down and do what he did to me seconds ago. However, we managed to drag me down with him, so I fell on him, my legs on both sides of his waist. When I lifted my arm to land another blow, he quickly grabbed it catching the other hand at the same time. Using my surprise to his advantage, he briskly leaned forward and to the left now bringing me down with him on top of me with my arms crossed above me firmly in his grip. Now to it was my abs turn to endure the stress when I used all of my strength to get myself up ridding my arms from his clutch.

This however put as in a very awkward position. Now we were both sitting with me on top of him, legs around his waist and arms around his neck. His arms found their place around my waist. This brought our faces dangerously close to each other, or rather his face dangerously close to my neck, his lips almost touching it. For a moment we went still, unsure what to do. But then Loki hesitantly moved his head forward, and his opened lips slightly touched my neck. This sent goose bumps down my spine, and for my mouth to traitorously utter a quiet moan. Suddenly my neck felt Loki’s smirk when he did not pull away, but rather pulled closer starting to pepper my neck with chaste kisses. Unable to contain my sighs I gripped his raven hair pulling it not so slightly. This made him groan in turn. Unable to wait anymore I brought his face close to mine, our lips millimetres away from each other.

‘Brother, is everything alright? I heard sounds of struggles and moans. Who are you fighting?’ Thor again was able to find the most convenient moment to interrupt us!

Exasperatedly lowering his head down and not touching me anymore, Loki annoyedly uttered:

‘Yes, Brother, I am fine! I twisted my arm, so took a bit of time to take down my breastplate!’

Living up to his name, God of Lies managed to quickly come up with a lie and a believable one for that matter! When Thor’s steps faded, he swiftly lifted himself up completely disregarding me sitting on top of him causing me to fall down on my back with an ‘Oumph’.

Returning back to his cold demeanour in almost a second, he said with a voice not allowing any objections:

‘You are staying in my tent tonight. Don’t want the risk of everyone finding you here in the battlefield’

Feeling like a small child being ordered around, but unable to find any reason to contradict him, I decided not to dignify him with response and settle myself on the opposite side of the tent from him hoping the needed sleep would find me quickly.


End file.
